Every time my readers introduce themselves to me, I walk away with a huge grin which stays for a while. They are always so nice. I love it! The excitement of meeting readers is still a novelty. I remember the first time it happened, in 2010, as I was crossing the road.  So. Exciting.

On the train this week: a woman saw me, sat near me and said:

“Are you Carly Findlay? I read your writing in Daily Life and wanted to say you are kick arse. More people need to own who they are.” So lovely!

Last Wednesday was bookended by two highlights:

A reader of Peppermint Magazine introduced herself and shook my hand on the train platform in the morning. We chatted all the way to the city.

And then as I sat in the sunshine for a few minutes before going home, a Tweeter stopped to say “Just letting you know I follow you on twitter and I love everything you write.”

When I went to the gallery to see JPG, two lovely blog readers stopped me to say hello. One was so giggly when she told me she reads (and enjoys) my blog. And the other one made for a hilarious encounter – she stopped me to say “I don’t want to ruin your day but I just love your blog!”. I was with Charlotte and she was about to get defensive when this lady started with ‘I don’t want to ruin your day”. And then we had a quick chat, and giggle – it was so funny!

And last week I went to a lecture by US academic Beth Haller – she and Kath Duncan talked about disability representation in the media. It was so informative – I found out about lots of TV shows featuring disabled characters. Beth’s last slide was referring to my Daily Life article about disability and reality TV! I squealed in the lecture and after it finished, Beth asked if she could take a photo of me under the projection! I think she tours this lecture too! And the next day I emailed my editor with this picture!

Sometimes I get tweets or messages after someone has seen me, saying they’d seen me but were too shy to say hello! I am sad when that happens because I hope to always be approachable. And I always want to find out about you, my readers. Please say hello!

These interactions are SO nice. Never underestimate the power of stopping to say hello and pay a compliment to someone you recognise or admire.

So if you see a blogger, whose writing you like, walking past you in the street or at the art gallery or on the train, say hello to them! I guarantee it will make their day!